Eight-Year-Old Boy's To-Do List Is Pure Life Goals

An 8-year-old's "to-do" list has been spreading some much-needed positivity on social media, along with an important message.

Grace Marrero from Nashville, Tennessee, shared to Reddit last week her nephew Pax's list of things to get done after being sent it by Pax's grandmother.

"It surprised me! He's not really a to-do list kind of kid," Marrero told Newsweek. "He stayed the night at his grandma's and when he woke up she was in the middle of making her to-do list for the day. He asked what she was doing and then if he could make his own."

Organization might not be everyone's strong point, but studies have highlighted the benefits. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that disorganized working environments had a debilitating effect.

Researchers working on the study found the human brain found clutter difficult to process to the point where it could become overwhelming, leaving individuals struggling to complete even basic tasks. By contrast, those who kept a tidied, organized space were able to better focus and maintain productivity.

Traditionally, to-do lists offer a platform from which to organize our busy lives, but Pax's approach was a little different. His list included entries like "be weird" and "play with dad." Reading and looking after his blue heeler Cash also featured on the to-do list, along with "go to goodwill," "learn," "be helpful to daddy" and perhaps sweetest of all, "be content."

Marrero loved that Pax's first entry was "be weird." She said she shared it on Reddit as a "reminder that to-do lists, while inherently for productivity, are also a space to remind ourselves what we want to accomplish on the day past just tasks we have to do."

"I've made a million and one to-do lists in my life and none of them have ever included fun things that I wanted to do," she said. "I have 11 nieces and nephews and they never fail to remind me that life is supposed to be fun too."

Marrero said she hopes Pax's to-do list inspires others to follow suit.

"I hope everyone that reads it remembers to be weird and content and intentional about including fun things like playing games and reading into their day, not just the menial tasks we all have on our to-do lists, whether mental or physical," she said.

"I intended it as both a reminder to live life for one's own self, but also as a bit of a newsflash: to-do lists can be more than just have-tos, they can be get-tos. We might all be a little better off if we remembered to include the things we want, equally as importantly, alongside the things that we need."

It's clear, more than anything else, that Marrero is proud of Pax and the free, creative spirit he trains.

"He is a brilliant and bright little spitfire of a person. The list embodies him well," she said. "He has a constant desire to learn and grow as a person and it comes through in his everyday life, and this list he wrote speaks to that already."